Strawberry Shortcake with some interesting twists and whips!

Three years after Budge Studios released the renowned Strawberry Shortcake (in 2014), Coco Play just went an extra mile with My Bakery Empire.

This game not only comes with some revamped visuals (including more 3D models), but it also introduced some sims-like mechanics (especially noticeable in the character customization screen, at least on the surface) and management simulation features.

The purpose of this game goes beyond simply learning to prepare delightful pastries. Your objective is to expand your business by boosting client satisfaction and making optimal use of resources.

Now, I will say this outright and without hesitation. If you expect a realistic business management sim, you’re out of luck. 

Thing is, this game is seemingly not meant for little children like Strawberry Shortcake was. This is basically a given since the main character here is supposed to be a sort of school dropout trying to make ends meet. With that said, it’s readily apparent that Coco targeted teenagers, so it’s reasonable that they’d tone down the specifics of business handling and only focus on its most superficial aspects.

Well, perhaps they were too superficial. I was particularly left scratching my head upon opening my second shop after just one successful sale! Color me skeptic, but I’m not sure that’s how it works unless you got lucky with crypto or something (and, even then, you’d have to deal with the taxes first).

I dare say that the whole business management thing was just a gimmick to add a layer of agency to the gameplay and make it a bit more rewarding. In Strawberry Shortcake, you essentially showed off your recipes and that was about it. 

I was personally satisfied by how My Bakery Empire strived to give players further motivation to keep playing, even if it didn’t have all the bells and whistles of ordinary management games. To illustrate, apart from the daily undertakings of your bakery venture, you likewise get the chance to compete against other players in voting contests that will challenge just how creative you really are, which is a very nice change of pace.

On another note, there are scarcer voiceovers here. Some people may take issue with this, but I couldn’t count how many times the voice acting in Strawberry Shortcake (which is not a bad game, mind you!) irked me, especially in light of its repetitive nature. 

On this occasion, you won’t hear any vocal deliveries during your cooking sessions but only intermittently, which I find to be a blessing. Granted, that other game was for little children, but Budge Studios could have handled that better, in my opinion. 

In addition, I have the impression that this game gives more choices to the player than Strawberry Shortcake did. I distinctly remember being pleasantly surprised by how the game prompted me to choose the type of mixer I wanted to use. I’m still not sure whether it made any substantial difference, save for perhaps a more abbreviated cooking time, but I can still appreciate the gesture.

Regarding character customization, remember when I said it had a sims-like feel to it? Well, that was mostly true. However, don’t get your hopes up. You’ll not be really changing anything other than your attire. 

This game’s monetization is a bit more lenient than others of its kind, though I still find that $12 for full access to features is a bit of an overprice. Nevertheless, compared to what we’re now used to seeing in this space, this is “bargain pricing”. I could still make the argument that this is not technically a children’s game and, hence, it shouldn’t have the same pricing schemes as those other titles, but that’s just me.

Lastly, you can also pay $2 for the no-ads version of the game, which is “doable”. Trust me, you’d probably want to get rid of those ads for they can undoubtedly get very obnoxious in a very short amount of time.

Even though it’s probably far from being the best game in the genre, there is a lot to like about My Bakery Empire. If you are a sucker for making virtual pastries and would like to spend some quality time doing so with your young’uns, you should definitely check this one out.

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